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Database:
Black Lake
Burch's Mill
Bowling Green
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What:
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Revlist post
As Ganey's party had been troublesome to the people of North Carolina, and had not observed the treaty of neutrality with Gen. Marion, made June 17th, 1781, a joint expedition was concerted between Gov. Matthews, of South and Gov. Martin of North Carolina, to subdue them.* Of this expedition Gen. Marion was to have the command. His very name was sufficient for the purpose intended. At Burch's mill on Pedee, a treaty was signed, (June 1782) by which Ganey's party agreed to lay down their arms as enemies of the state, to demean themselves hereafter as peaceable citizens, to deliver up all stolen property, to apprehend all who did not accede to the treaty now made, to take all deserters from the American army and deliver them up, to return to their allegiance and abjure that of his Britannic majesty. From this treaty, Gibson, who killed Col. Kolb, and Fanning and his party were excepted, but they escaped. Fanning was properly of North Carolina, but occasionally acted with Ganey, and was one of the most active men, and one of the most deliberate murderers of the whole party. But little defence had been made by the tories; only one skirmish took place, in which the general's friend, Robert James, was wounded; and at the Bowling Green, between Great and Little Pedee, at least five hundred men laid down their arms to Gen. Marion. Thus ended an opposition to the country, which commenced more from the desire of plunder than from principle, and which, except with regard to sex, and some to age, had been carried on in the true spirit of savage warfare. June (?) 1782 - Black Lake - Site of skirmish, Colonel John Baxter's Company. In modern Horry County. Baxter and his men, assigned to patrol Britton's Neck (between the Great and Little Pee Dee), learned that the Loyalists had seized a boatload of rice near the mouth of Black Lake. When the Patriots arrived on the scene, the enemy fled, but they afterward fired on Baxter's troops as the latter were proceeding up the lake in canoes to recover the boat. Robert James, a personal friend of General Marion, was wounded in this encounter. (Terry Lipscomb, South Carolina Revolutionary Battles, Names in South Carolina, USC press, 1981)
The Tories in this region were commanded by Major Micajah Ganey, who had concluded a truce with General Marion, the previous year, after the Patriots had captured Georgetown. The truce was due to expire on June 17, and in view of the renewed Loyalist threat, the governors of North and South Carolina mounted a joint expedition under Marion's command. The Swamp Fox, who had already drawn up plans for this operation, had Patriot columns ready to move into the truce ground from three directions. The Tories were intimidated by Marion's approach, and they began to sue for terms. After complicated negotiations a personal meeting was arranged between Marion and Ganey, and on June 8 a new treaty was signed at Burch's Mill on the west side of the Pee Dee River. Marion remained at this camp until June 16, then marched north and within a few days crossed the river in the vicinity of Mars Bluff, proceeding to the Bowling Green in Marion County, where he accepted the surrender of several hundred Tories.
Related sites: Pee Dee Swamp Confidence level: See, above.
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